The space tourism industry heats up with the announcement of a new space jet by EADS Astrium. This is the second company after Virgin Galactic, which has taken the “airplane to rocket” approach. The four-passenger jet looks like a normal aircraft but it is in actual a space jet fitted with rocket engines.

The Astrium Space Jet will take off from a conventional airport using its jet engines but when it will reach at an altitude of about 12 km, the rocket engines kicks in to give the jet enough acceleration to reach 100 km in no time. The jet will take just 80 seconds to get to 60 km altitude.

The passengers’ comfort and safety is taken care of by the extremely innovative seats that lessen the effects of acceleration and deceleration. Astrium hopes the first flight to take off in 2012 and tickets are expected to cost €150,000 to €200,000. And yes, the voyage will enrich you with three minutes of weightlessness too. Space travel is getting closer to reality day by day.

via BlogSciFi / ColonyWorlds